Department of Communication Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Psychological Sciences, University of California, Merced, CA 95344, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Sep 7;17(18):6516. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17186516.
Exposure to air pollution is one of the primary global health risk factors, yet individuals lack the knowledge to engage in individual risk mitigation and the skills to mobilize for the change necessary to reduce such risks. News media is an important tool for influencing individual actions and support for public policies to reduce environmental threats; thus, a lack of news coverage of such issues may exacerbate knowledge deficits. This study examines the reporting of health risks and precautionary measures regarding air pollution in national and regional print news. We conducted a content analysis of two national and two local newspapers covering the USA's most polluted region during a 5-year period. Coders identified information on threat, self-efficacy, protective measures and information sources. Nearly 40% of air pollution news articles mentioned human health risks. Fewer than 10% of news stories about air pollution provided information on the precautionary measures necessary for individuals to take action to mitigate their risk. Local newspapers did not report more threat (Χ = 1.931, = 0.165) and efficacy (Χ = 1.118, = 0.209) information. Although air pollution levels are high and continue to rise at alarming rates, our findings suggest that news media reporting is not conducive to raising environmental health literacy.
暴露在空气污染中是主要的全球健康风险因素之一，但个人缺乏参与个人风险缓解的知识，也缺乏为减少此类风险所需的动员技能。新闻媒体是影响个人行动和支持减少环境威胁的公共政策的重要工具；因此，缺乏对这些问题的新闻报道可能会加剧知识的不足。本研究考察了国家和地区印刷新闻对空气污染健康风险和预防措施的报道。我们对 5 年来报道美国污染最严重地区的两份全国性报纸和两份地方性报纸进行了内容分析。编码员确定了有关威胁、自我效能、保护措施和信息来源的信息。近 40%的空气污染新闻文章提到了人类健康风险。不到 10%的关于空气污染的新闻故事提供了个人采取行动减轻风险所需的预防措施的信息。地方报纸没有报道更多的威胁（Χ=1.931，p=0.165）和效能（Χ=1.118，p=0.209）信息。尽管空气污染水平很高，而且仍以惊人的速度上升，但我们的研究结果表明，新闻媒体的报道不利于提高环境健康素养。
